A new look special teams unit, returning just one player, sophomore Ian Hershey, is creating a stiff competition for game day duties. Graduate student Parker Lewis transferred from Ohio State after playing just one game for the past two seasons. Nonetheless, despite a fall camp injury, he has cemented himself to still be in the race for kicker and punter and is seemingly in the lead to assume the kickoff duties on Saturday.
“I’ve been comfortable in all three positions,” Lewis said. “I’ve kicked and done kickoffs the past four years, as well as punted in high school, and I brought that back this year. I honestly feel comfortable at all three positions, and anywhere I can help the team, I will be more than happy to play where they need me.”
Alongside Lewis in the punter battle is true freshman Kanyon Floyd. While Lewis has received fall camp reps at all kicking positions, Floyd’s specialty is punting, where he’s run with the first team for the majority of fall camp and is slated to be the starter. The combination of his skill and maturity has not only earned him those first-team duties but has also surprised Lewis.
“He’s a talented freshman punter,” Lewis recognized. “He’s super consistent, and he’s very mature for his age, which is the best thing about him. I wish I were as mature as him my freshman year, and he’s got a great work ethic. I think he’s definitely going to be really successful at the college level.”
As the oldest in the special teams room, Lewis expects to guide the younger players. Whether on or off the field, his vast college experience has allowed him to be a role model for them.
“I try to be the big brother for the guys,” Lewis expressed. “I’ve obviously been around the longest, and I have the opportunity to help the guys with anything. Whether it’s in the classroom talking about time management or anything on the field form-wise, I’m always going to try and be there for them and help them the best I can.”
The special teams group has also had the opportunity to spend time together off the field, as do the other positions on the team. They try to spend their downtime with each other as often as they can and also keep their level of competition up in many activities. Although sometimes they have to get creative, the quality of time spent together is a significant aspect of this position group.
“With all the downtime in fall camp, they just installed a golf simulator in the player’s lounge,” Lewis revealed. “When we get breaks from meetings, we’re always in there hitting golf balls and competing with each other. I actually never got into golf, so I’m by far the worst of the group. (ASU punter) Race Mahlum is definitely the best in the group, though.”
Lewis kicked for two seasons at USC, earning honorable mention All-Pac-12 honors in 2020 and second-team honors in 2021. In 2021, he was 17 of 22 in field goal attempts, ironically recording his career-high of 52 yards in a 2021 contest versus Arizona State. Lewis also tallied 27 touchbacks on 34 kickoffs. In 19 career games for the Trojans, he connected on 26 of 35 field goal attempts for 124 points and converted on 46 of 47 extra points.
Because it is common for USC transfers such as Lewis to have classes taken not show up on the transcript when transferring out of USC, the NCAA ruled him academically ineligible for the 2022 season, and despite Lewis’s appeal, he was only academically eligible at Ohio State for the following season. Oddly enough, the Ohio State coaches held that against Lewis, who, as a result, played in only one game last season where he had both of his kickoffs go for touchbacks.
Needless to say, he’s extremely motivated for the upcoming season with the Sun Devils. This is a homecoming for the former Scottsdale Saguaro standout, who in 2019 helped lead the Sabercats to their seventh consecutive state championship and earned several honors that year, including MaxPreps All-American first team and PrepStar All-Western Region. That year, he connected on 76 of 77 extra points and was perfect 5 of 5 on field goals, with a long of 48 yards.
After playing in the Pac-12 with USC and the Big Ten with Ohio State, Lewis now has the chance to experience the third conference of his collegiate career. With the number of iconic teams combined with ASU's Big 12 media preseason ranking of last place, Lewis is motivated that much more to make an impact in 2024.
“We’re going to play at some pretty cool stadiums,” Lewis noted. “I’m most excited to see the team and my group develop. We got ranked dead last in the conference, and we’re excited about that. We definitely think we have a lot to prove, and I think it’s going to be a much better outcome than people think. (Head) Coach Dillingham lets us know about it almost every team meeting, and it fires us up.”
With the conference now more spread out, teams from the Pac-12 will have a lot more travel compared to just traveling up and down the West Coast. For ASU, Lewis doesn’t think they’ll be as affected as some of the other teams going into conferences that are more east coast and Midwest-based.
“I don’t think it’s going to be an issue for us as much as other teams,” Lewis admitted. “I think where it will be an issue is for schools going into the Big Ten like UCLA and USC. After playing for a Big Ten and old Pac-12 schools, it’s hard training in sunny Southern California and then going in the middle of November to Ohio State or Penn State, where it’s 30 or 40 degrees. We could potentially run into that with teams like West Virginia, but I don’t think it’s going to be as big of a problem for us.”
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